The Weekly Goods, Bads, and Uglies

Good: This blog is only truths. No more lies, I promise......well let's not be too hasty, no more lies for awhile :)

Good: We went on a family vacation!

Bad/Good: We took the kids to Las Vegas. Crazy right? You have to listen to why we went there, and then it makes perfect sense, at least it does in my crazy world. Ryan decided that we needed to save $$$ this year, so we would be taking a vacation to the beautiful Colorado Mountains. This did not seem like a vacation to me. I begged and pleaded, but he stayed firm. Then one day a telemarketer from the Hilton called offering us a free hotel suite in Vegas if we just went to a tiny little 2 hour meeting. Harmless right? I signed Ryan and I up, knowing that he would be so proud of me. Now we could drive to Vegas and stay for free. Our vacation would cost us almost nothing. I decided we had better take the kids with us, that would be selfish if our "family vacation" didn't include the boys :} Oh, Ryan was not as happy with me as I thought he would be. I had to put a deposit down that we would get back after attending that silly little time share meeting, so regardless of his not so happy reaction, our plans were set. So off we went on another Griswold Family Vacation.

Good: We rented a speed boat and hung out on Lake Mead one day. We had so much fun diving off the boat and swimming in the huge lake and teaching the boys to drive the boat. We left the camera in the car :{ but we had it when we stopped after at Lake Mead to check out the Hoover Dam. It really is huge with a whole lot of concrete.

Good: We went to Shark Reef at Mandalay Bay.

Good: We had a great time swimming. Braydon didn't even shiver when he got out of the pool. The boys even created an act fit for Vegas.

Good: We went to the Knights of the Roundtable. It was really cool, and the boys loved it. Okay, Ryan and I thought it was pretty cool too.

Bad: According to Braydon we had to walk and walk and walk. It is true. We didn't remember how far you had to walk to get to everything, and what you might see on your way to your destination. Oops.

Good: The kids were tired out every night, and slept in each day, so we got to sleep in too.

Ugly: The "little meeting" was not so fun. They seem to think you are out of your mind if you don't want to pay $30,000 up front, and $350 a month for an amazing time share in lovely Las Vegas. Ryan told our salesman, Sevren, that we were not interested in a time share. He then decided the best sales approach was to talk to me and insult Ryan. That didn't work for us. Shocking! After the meeting, Ryan told me that if I sign us up for another time share meeting, he will not go on vacation with me for 5 years. I'm pretty sure he meant it!

The Good, the Bad, and the Uglies:

I can't believe that I didn't post a blog last week. It was such an amazing week!

Good: Ryan got a promotion with a huge raise. Thanks sugar daddy!

Good: Kim was accepted into Mensa.

Good: Kole tested out of the 4th grade and will be going to 5th grade a year early. Way to go Kole.

Good; Braydon got a small part in a local commercial. Wish us luck!

Good; The boys' dreams have come true. We purchased two horses. Let us know if you would like to go for a ride sometime.

Bad: None of the above Goods are true.

Ugly; I'm a big fat liar, but in my defense, nothing of interest happened last week, although I could get into Mensa if I wanted to.

The Weekly Good, Bad, and Uglies

My brother and his family came out. We had so much fun just hanging out, going shopping, swimming, eating at the White Chocolate Grill, playing at The Children's Museum, and more shopping (without kids).

Good: We had a lot of fun at the Children's Museum.

Our firemen

Tire fun

Ryan is under my brother somewhere.

Braydon and Connor

Good: Another great meet by my two little fish.

Kole tearing it up.

Braydon ready to dive.

Bad: Where do you have to go if you come to Colorado? Casa Bonita! Right? Wrong. It is run down and a little scary inside. So, of course the kids loved it! Ryan grew up in Colorado and loved this place. He still loves it, but I'm sorry babe, we will probably not be making a trip back there.

at the fountain

"we are models, ya know what I mean....."

right, like walking is an option

Ugly: I had gorgeous new bedding for an entire night. Then one of the cats peed on, my did I mention new, bedspread? What the crap (sorry for my harsh language). They have never done that before, so I guess they decided to make it count. They almost went back to Dumb Friends League for that. Oh, but the story gets better, I shoved the giant bedding in the washer, knowing it was too big, and turned on the washer. The washer overflowed with water all over my laundry room. So my sister-in-law and I mopped all the water up. We pulled the bedspread out of the washer and noticed a huge tear that was not there before. I guess I am just not meant to have a new bedspread. No one sees our bedroom anyway right?

The Weekly Goods, Bads, and Uglies

GOOD: My boys are home from Utah! They had a great time fishing, making forts, attending the Ute Stampede and playing with grandma, grandpa, and their cousins.

GOOD: My boys are also artists. Kole would like everyone to know that his paintings are for sale if you are interested.

Kole at work

Braydon at work.

One of Kole's paintings that I framed and put in the bathroom.

A masterpiece by Kole titled "Look into My Eyes".

GOOD: My brother, Shane and his wife, Rochelle are coming to visit this Wednesday.

BAD: My house is not "company ready." I had/have so many projects on my list, okay, on Ryan's list, "we" will be pushing it to get them all done. Ryan is convinced that we haven't done this many projects in the last two years. He is probably right because that is the last time we have had family out, besides my mom and dad (who know how we really live).

GOOD: The guest bedroom which was our "throw it in that room" room is now beautiful and newly decorated. (except the paint, Ryan can't do everything sigh)

GOOD: The loft is officially clean. It has been my "scrap room" as Braydon calls it and craft room for the last two years. Which translates into another diasaster that has needed a good cleaning for a long time. It only took me 6 hours no biggie right?

Ugly: Braydon's uneaten ice cream sandwich in the bathroom trash, just after I cleaned the bathroom.

BAD: As in good bad. Ryan completed one of the projects on his list. He put trim around the mirror in the guest bathroom. Okay, that sounds much more simple that it was. It looks awesome. What a handy man I married.

before

during

after

GOOD: The boys had so much fun and did really well in their first swim meet. Kole took 1st in the freestyle and Braydon, well, as he put it "I did great, I wasn't even last." He is actually doing really well. He couldn't even swim by himself last summer, and this summer he is swimming laps. Yeah! They are both better swimmers than me, which isn't saying much.

The Weekly Goods, Bads, and Uglies

Good: Grandma's slide to help us cool off on the 4th of July.

Bad (good bad): Our own fireworks show put on by Ryan and my brothers and little nephew. It was amazing. I have never seen such large fireworks put on by a family. Way to go Ryan! The entire town loved them! The next night the town fireworks were cancelled due to wind and rain, so we were really lucky to see fireworks the night before.

Good/Great/The Best: Moroni 4th of July parade and festivities. The boys had so much fun getting candy, riding in the parade, and watching all of the cool floats go by. We then went to the carnival which had slides and games. This is my favorite time to be in Moroni with my friends and family.

Good: Our family pictures actually turned out really cute. We had a lot of fun doing them....most of the time. Now we all love that we have awesome family pictures. My mom is awesome for keeping us together and making sure we have family pictures each time we are together.

Ugly: Someone left a dog that they didn't want anymore at the park where we got our family pictures taken. She was a sweet dog, and was so skinny, and just wanted to be loved. We felt so bad for her. My tender-hearted, Kole cried and cried. Kole named her Rose and kept saying how she didn't deserve this. Braydon was upset too, but didn't really want to touch "Rose." We felt so bad because none of us could take her home. We gave her most of our snacks and are hoping that someone will find her and take her home. She really was a neat dog. People like that......well they are ugly, ugly, ugly.

Bad: All of the cookies. candies, chips, burgers, fries, brownies and so much more that we ate all day long.

Ugly: Me crying today because I miss all of my family so much, and no there is not a picture of that.